“Assessment of the differentiated effects of tidal river management on livelihoods of farmers in Southwestern Bangladesh”
Summary
Living in the southwest coastal delta of Bangladesh has inherently been accompanied with the implementation of water management strategies. Historical indigenous knowledge was overruled in the 1950’s by the introduction of foreign water management approaches encompassing ‘hard’ flood control measures. This large-scale construction of coastal embankments was initially considered to be successful, but poor understanding of natural sediment deposition within the rivers increased waterlogging and decreased navigability of the rivers in the southwest coastal areas. Tidal river management, a water management strategy initiated by civil society in southwest Bangladesh provided a solution for these issues.
However, the extent to which the implementation and finalization of TRM, and its’ advantages and disadvantages, affect the livelihoods of local farmers with land within the (temporarily) submerged beels had not been explored, yet. Therefore, this research has sought for an answer for the following main question. “To what extent, and how does Tidal River Management affect shrimp and paddy-rice farmers in the Sathkira and Jessore districts of Bangladesh, respectively?”
By the means of a survey in rural Bangladesh, heads of households have been interviewed and visited to collect data. This data has been used to explore and assess the effects of TRM on livelihood capitals, adaptation measures and the presence and effects of formal and institutions.
From this finding, a careful conclusion can be drawn that TRM does not improve the status of the livelihood capitals of households on average, nor does it negatively affect the status of livelihood capitals of households that are currently experiencing TRM on their agricultural lands. Thus, farmers have found a modus operandi to sustainably maintain their livelihoods with TRM, and also deal with the consequences of climate change. Two policy recommendations have been proposed for the Bangladesh Water Development Board. Namely, 1. A simplification of the application procedure for compensation money and 2. An increase of communication on possible adaptation measures for farmers during the implementation phase of TRM.